Lying Eyes
by paynesgrey
Summary: Zuko realizes that Katara doesn't really hate him, that she feels something else. Mid-season 3 canon. Zuko x Katara. THIS IS A ONESHOT AND WILL NOT BE CONTINUED.


AN: Okay, I wrote this one-shot quite a long time ago, and no, I don't intend to continue it. I just want to thank darkelf19 and manonlechat for looking this over and giving me their advice, especially manonlechat for helping me polish it and strengthen the flow. This story probably wouldn't have been posted without her.

Enjoy!

---

Lying Eyes

The arguments, the glares, and the snide tones are all proof of her disdain. At least, they are to everyone else in the group.

But Zuko knows differently. Katara lies with her eyes.

As if trying to be her ally isn't enough of a struggle, trying to be her friend is next to impossible. She goes off the handle over many nothings, and as days go by and the battle with the Fire Lord looms over their heads, he begins to question the real reason he's making progress with everyone in the group but her.

Another snarl. Another remark. He tries, as usual, to reconcile with her, and it's all for naught. She stomps away, and he senses she's trying to not waste her tears on him. She's pretty much said so every time they spar.

The Avatar seems dejected with their lack of harmony. If they are going to win this war, everyone must work together. No exceptions. Zuko's heard him trying to reason with Katara himself. He wishes he could tell the Avatar to leave it alone.

Aang has more important things to worry about, and Zuko is determined to win over Katara's trust.

When the Avatar gives up, Katara stomps away, and Zuko knows better to follow her. So He sulks in another direction and finds solace under a solid Willow tree. He stands, resting his body against the bark and letting the shadows and breeze wash over him.

Zuko takes a deep breath and something feels funny. Not physical, but something different about the air.

It's common to experience humidity this time of year, just as common as it is for a few dry spells. But Zuko knows there's nothing common this time. The dampness in the air has pricked at his fire bending skills, but adapting to the weather is easy enough for even a novice to handle.

But an expert still feels the change.

The damp air over his senses disappears, and suddenly he feels a quick, dry burn pulsate through his nerves and then quickly subside. It's enough to stir him, and he opens his eyes and looks around. Whatever it is, it makes him anxious, and he's embarrassed by what else it does to him. Surveying the area, he adjusts himself and tries to calm the heat smoldering between his thighs.

He senses another person, and he wants to call out, but chooses stealth. He creeps lightly through the trees and moves toward the origin of the strange power. His jaw gapes slightly as he rests his gaze on a clearing.

Katara is crying in secret as she draws the water from the plants in the fields. Zuko is overwhelmed by pity, not only for her, but for the dead and wilting flowers under her feet.

She gasps and turns around, but he ducks in time to elude her. He moves to a path near the clearing and waits.

"I've never seen you use your power like that before, water bender," he says, surprised at how soft his own voice feels in his throat as he addresses her.

Her eyes narrow at him. He attempts a smile. She does not reciprocate and turns her mouth into a frown.

"It's none of your business," she snaps, and moves to march past him. Delicately, he steps out of her way.

"I was wrong about you, Katara," he says, wondering if it'll even faze her. She stops, and she turns around and glowers.

"What does that mean?" He's surprised she's taken the time to answer him.

"It's simple." He begins to walk and stops a few paces ahead. "You always make me feel like more of a monster than I really am." He looks out to the dead meadow. "But then you surprise me, and I realize that we're not as different as you want us to be."

He watches her shoulders tense. She looks at the ground, but she's less angry. He hears her whisper. "I know."

She walks away but not before giving him a harsh parting glance.

He knows he's said too much, but he feels like he's earned something.

The rest of the day he interacts with her and her tone is less biting; in fact, she barely says anything to him at all.

She's not mocking him, and he almost misses it.

--

She recovers somewhat after dinner and taunts him lightly, but there's something different about her tone. It's playful, and he can't help but wonder what has changed.

When he leaves to relieve himself, she intercepts him in the darkness. Standing in front of him with her arms out, before he can blink she uses an invisible force slam him against the tree. Blood bending, the Avatar calls it, and Zuko thinks it's both alluring and frightening.

He would never have imaged that a water bender, of such a kind and passive people, would resort to such methods.

Yet when his back scrapes against the bark of the tree and her hands are on him, he's proven wrong about one thing. The angry, sad girl who slams her lips against his is anything but passive.

The air around him goes dry again and as her fingers stream through his hair, his ache returns.

He's scared. He's never had an inkling she's had feelings like this. The situation gets more complicated as he kisses her back.

--

It seems like hours, but he knows it's not. He tears away when he smells tears, and his mouth gapes. One moment Katara is aggressive and the next she's crying like someone has died.

"What just…" His voice seems trapped in his throat. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry," she sobs, before she tries to step away. He catches her arm, and she fights him. She spins around, and he knows what she's going to do. He lets her punch him, and there's no use evading it.

--

She looks angry and embarrassed when he returns to camp, his cheek already beginning to bruise. He plays into the others' incorrect assumptions and frowns dramatically as the earth bender and Katara's brother immediately start laughing.

"Nice one, dork!" Toph says and lets out another unladylike guffaw.

Sokka waves his finger at him. "Didn't I tell you before when you joined this group? Girls _go_ over there, and guys…" He pauses and points his hand in the opposite direction of the forest. "… do their business over there."

Zuko cracks a nervous smile and rubs his cheek. "Sorry, Katara."

She doesn't look at him. The Avatar seems irritated.

_Very well,_ Zuko thinks. _He's protective of her. _

Inwardly, he groans and moves back to his sleeping area. He would prefer to forget the whole day, but the water bender's unexpected kiss plagues his thoughts.

_One moment she's snapping at me, and the next, she's running into my arms. _

There is one thing he's definitely sure of. He will never understand girls.

--

The incident just isn't going away, and he's not even sure if he wants it to.

He feels conflicted; after all, he still has someone he cares about, even if he's betrayed her to join the Avatar.

He purses his lip. The facts are straight. Katara is the Avatar's girl, and Mai is his girl –yet Katara accosts him in the forest, and he doesn't _dislike_ her advances.

The equation just doesn't seem right.

Their days together progress, the confusion continues, and her eyes continue to lie. They steal minutes away with each other, hiding and fooling the oblivious members of their group, and they both get good at lying.

He knows he could fight it and tell her to stop, but he can't. He feels sick, but he doesn't want to be well. He's addicted and has finally found something dangerous and exciting in his new, good and fairly plain life.

The more Katara wants of him, the more he gives. What she truly wants, he doesn't know, but he convinces himself that he has it to give. He's wronged her so much in the past and this is the first thing that's begun to make up for it.

The more he gets from her, the more he knows it'll be harder for him to break away.

--

She's sitting in his lap and rubbing her hands on his skin under his shirt. This afternoon she's kissed every part of his face and it still doesn't seem like enough.

Her lips travel to the dip in his collar bone, and he stops her.

"Tell me why you're doing this," he finally says.

"I … I don't know. I think I'm going crazy," she answers slowly, shying her eyes away from his.

Zuko sighs. "Why me? You hate me. I don't understand you."

She's quiet for awhile, and then looks at him. Her eyes are clearer than ever – so much it frightens him.

"I don't hate you anymore." He watches the muscles tense in her jaw. "I think that's a problem, too."

He grits his teeth and sighs. "The Avatar."

She nods slowly, pain evident on her face. More pain than ever before.

"I love him but not… I don't think of him like…" she stammers and swallows uncomfortably. She lifts her eyes to him pleadingly. Forcefully, she finishes, "I still care about him and would do anything for him."

The conversation wilts both their enthusiasm, and they raise from the ground.

"Katara, we're going to war." _And th__is probably needs to stop_, he concludes silently. He doesn't know why he can't say it aloud.

She disengages herself from him and walks toward camp without an answer. Zuko watches her.

The confusion continues.

--

The next day she's meaner than ever before. It shocks the group. Toph scoffs about a 'woman's week' and the topic makes everyone else so uncomfortable that attention shifts elsewhere.

--

She doesn't meet him in the forest anymore. He's disappointed and relieved, which he hates. It would be a whole lot simpler if he didn't have feelings for her.

He's afraid to go to her. She had always come to him, against a tree, inside a cave, or under the stream of a waterfall. He relives that last part in his mind, and it's then when he knows he's truly fallen.

Her eyes lie less, and Zuko mopes, hating his rational mind for telling him it's for the best.

Days later he resolves to put the confusion behind him and move on. He makes himself think about Mai and wonders if he would have gotten into this mess had she come with him.

Thinking of Mai lifts his mood because she's nothing like Katara. He dreams of them both at night. Mai stands in a wasteland behind him, and Katara stands ahead in a field of flowers she's just restored to life.

That's when he is woken, disoriented as he blinks at her dark face looming over his in the moonlight. She's says nothing, but her eyes are speak. He follows her.

--

She stands awkwardly with her back against the tree. Zuko knows where this conversation is going. He's prepared.

"I can't stop it," she says in a strangled whisper. She looks lost and uncertain and meets his eyes. "The truth is I should hate you."

"Maybe. Or you shouldn't like me, but we should just be … comrades. In battle."

"Yes, that's what I mean." She wrinkles her nose. "I don't feel that way though."

"That's a problem." He watches her frown. "I don't feel that way either."

He hears her choke out a sob. "I never wanted to hurt him, but he came for me and…"

He moves toward her and rests a hand on her shoulder. "My training with the Avatar is almost done. He's mastered fire bending enough. Do you need me to go…?"

"No!" she interrupts him. "No…because I was hoping…" She grabs onto his shirt, and he feels her kiss. "Let's keep going."

"But…"

"I can't think about anything else. At first, I wanted to kill you, Zuko. I felt it so strongly that I was going to make you pay." He hears her suck in a harsh breath. "But as much as I hated you, I knew you were being honest. Everyone did after awhile. I was angry."

Her tone becomes softer. "You've taught him so much. You really do want to change. There is no doubt. When I realized this… it felt strange not to hate you anymore. Hatred is such a strong feeling, but when that disappeared…something still felt strong."

Suddenly, she throws her face in her hands and groans. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I feel so stupid and ashamed."

Zuko sighs. "Tell me about it."

The silence between them feels heavy, and the forest sounds loud. His ears are buzzing as he watches her.

"Listen… maybe we need to wait… whatever these feelings are, until after the battle…" he suggests.

She shakes her head; the action he's anticipated and feared. She looks to the ground. "I know he's going to come for me then, too, and when he does, I'm not going to say no to him. I'm not going to pull away."

"But you just said…!" Zuko feels pain as he bites his lip.

"It's the right thing to do," she says sternly. She lifts her chin. "You have someone too, don't you? In the Fire Nation?"

He freezes as Mai's face flashes before his eyes, and he grimaces.

"That's the way it's supposed to be." Katara frowns and looks up at the moon. "I really care about him. I don't want him to be hurt."

Zuko turns away from her and throws up his hands. "I don't understand you!" He feels his temper rising. "I'm going back to bed. This is crazy! I don't know what you want; let's just stop this if you feel this way."

"Zuko, wait!" she says, her voice frantically hushed. He walks away and resolves not to stop this time. She needs to figure out her feelings on her own, and so does he. She's right on some level. He does have Mai, and she has Aang. Whatever this is between them is confusing and volatile and hormonal, and he knows it can't be good.

Yet when he stops and he can't move his legs anymore, he knows that's not the only thing not good. He's allowed to turn, and he meets her gaze.

"Katara…"

Tears are streaming down her face again, and he feels guilty. He doesn't have time to think about what to say to her because she slams him against the tree again.

He winces. "You have to stop doing that."

"Humph," she huffs, and her hands snake around his back. Her hands are cold, and he gasps as she catches him with her mouth – her soft, eager mouth which he's quickly learned to adore.

Zuko groans against her lips, and he feels her turn him as she bends a knee around his leg. Swiftly, he pulls her up to straddle him and she's lifting her arms around his neck to bring him closer.

He shifts uncomfortably against her and tries to quell a youthful fire that's rising inside him. She doesn't let him pull away, and she clings to him rigidly. He breaks the kiss and sighs.

"Wait… stop, Katara," he says as she showers him with slow, languid kisses.

She stops and soaks in his words, and she blinks at him with realization. He watches the blush rise on her cheeks, and he has to push her away faster.

She leans her head against his chest and caresses her lips over his collar bone. "I can stay like this."

"I can't," he says harshly. She snaps up and he gives her a desperate look. "Um… you probably already know this but it's never good to … push a man this way."

Her eyes turn as large as saucers, and she slowly untangles herself from him. He turns his back to her and tries to compose himself. The warmth of her body still encases him, and he surmises it will take a good while before the feelings go away.

"This is a dangerous union, water bender," he says above a whisper.

"Yes," she answers plainly. He can feel her watching his back. He turns around when the heat starts to fade away.

"Katara… you know we can't keep this up for very much longer."

"I know."

"You have to decide," he says sternly.

Her eyes flash hotly at him. "So do you."

He nods. "You started this, water bender." He doesn't mean for it to sound like a challenge, but she takes it for one.

"And I'll finish it," she replies, and his blood goes hot and the air goes dry again. When she leans in and kisses him, he believes her.

"What about the Avatar?" Zuko has to ask it; she knows he does.

Her sad eyes fall away from his to the ground. Her soft, tender lips turn into a frown. She's still not sure yet; that he can still read from her. If anything, he knows Katara just wants to wing this. She's forcing herself to follow wherever her feelings mean to take her.

He feels a shiver as her eyes pull him again. "I don't know, but I don't intend to hurt him."

Zuko swallows the lump in his throat, and his ears ring from the implications of her words. He nods as if he's going to believe her.

But he can't. Her eyes are lying again, and she knows the pain as well as he does. They can keep this up, or they can deny it. Yet, he realizes something she's probably realized all along.

Whatever she intends to do, she can't deny that either way someone's going to get hurt, and she knows she's going to be the one to take the coward's way out. She'd rather hurt than _be_ hurt.

Zuko then realizes that he and Katara are more alike than ever, and the truth couldn't be any more arousing.

END


End file.
